Alisha resisted the overpowering urge to moan in delight as Asher massaged her scalp with a hand full of conditioner, working it through the lengths with his fingers. The tension between them crackled like a live wire in a pool of water. Satisfied with his work, Asher picked up a detangling brush, sectioning off her waist-length brown hair, he began to gently brush through the knots, careful not to hurt her. Each gentle touch was excruciating for both of them, the sexual chemistry sparking, intensifying.
“Hum, you are good at this, do you have a secret desire to be a hairdresser or something,” Alisha quipped at him, to try and dispel the mounting attraction that was building between them. His fingers lingered slightly before gently trailing back down the length.
Unable to control the reaction of utter pleasure that washed over her, she unwittingly let out a satisfied sigh as his fingers once more trailed through her hair.
Asher laughed at her comment as he attempted to keep his focus on his work, desperately ignoring the increasing bulge in his trousers and the utter pleasure touching her was bringing him. Closing his eyes slightly to gain control of himself, he decided that he wanted her hair as soft and smooth as possible before putting the fine toothcomb through it, that was his excuse, and he was sticking to it like super glue.
“You can thank my sisters, Phoenix and Rebecca when you meet them. Especially Becca, the pair of them would have me play dress up, and brush their hair when we were growing up. Oh, and I have to admit, I have been involved in more than the odd doll's tea party in my life,” Asher chuckled.
Alisha smiled, for all she wanted to have a snarky comeback, the fact that he had taken time to play with his sisters, and their preferred games growing up, actually endeared him to her. Finding she was curious about his childhood, and how he grew up, Alisha began to form a list of questions in her mind.
“What was it like? Having everything,” Alisha whispered, she was not being facetious, she just wanted to know, to remember a time when her own family life had been perfect.
“Trust me, we did not have everything. Mam and Dad were firm believers in not spoiling us. We had to work hard to earn treats, as a reminder that although we were blessed, there were those in the world who struggled, and not to take things for granted,” Asher smiled.
Alisha nodded, she had to admit, she respected the King and Queen for that.
“But, life was full of love, lots of laughter, and many, many pranks,” Asher chuckled.
“Hum, I have heard about your love of being childish,” Alisha grinned.
“Yep, and I must warn you my mate, that will never change. Life is too short to be serious 100% of the time,” Asher chuckled.
“Even when you live to around 500 or more years,” Alisha quipped.
“Especially then, after all, we are going to be a long time old,” Asher laughed.
“So, tell me about your sisters. Did I hear one is adopted?” Alisha asked.
Asher nodded his head.
“Phoenix yes. Although she is as real a sister as Becca is. She was an omega of the disbanded Ullswater pack. Separated from her twin, and sent to live in squaller by her parents because of her low rank. Drake, who, again, you will meet, saved her, along with some others, including James, who, besides my brother, brother-in-law, Phoenix’s Twin, and my cousin Zan, is my best male friend. He was also born an omega and mistreated at Ullswater. Mam found Phoenix and bonded with her immediately after she lost her first pregnancy, due to her own adopted human parents selling her out, on a misguided notion that they were saving her from harm. She got caught in a pure silver bear trap. Her wolf Sheba had to force, a heat so Dad could find her and cleanse her from the silver poisoning. That heat resulted in a non-viable pregnancy. She still mourns that baby, each and every year. Anyway, Phoenix came along, and instantly Mam and Dad loved her. She was in quite a state when she arrived, but she is strong now, a luna in her own right at Montseny pack in Spain, which she runs alongside her mate, Alpha Teo. No matter what she tells you though, I am her favourite brother,” Asher grinned.
“So …she found her twin again?” Alisha asked.
“Yes, none of us knew she had one, but that is a long story. I believe it is chronicled somewhere under the name The Omega Princess, back at the crescent moon,” Asher smiled.
“She sounds like an inspiring woman,” Alisha nodded, as once more Asher’s fingers ran through the length of her hair, causing a shiver of delight to rush through her.
“She is and has triplets to deal with, and by the way, Teo was fondling her tummy every couple of minutes, and her refusal to drink Uncle Robins moonshine werewolf whiskey the last time I saw her, I think she may well be adding to her brood,” Asher grinned.
“Ah, Triplets, that is hard work,” Alisha smiled.
“They are fun. Zoe the Alpha is strong-willed. It must run in female Alpha genes,” Asher chuckled at Alisha.
“Challan is Alpha as well, but Phoenix and Teo insisted the firstborn would be the heir to the pack. He is very protective of his sisters, especially Catalina, who was the last born, and omega. Although she holds her own against her siblings, if she cannot find Challan or one of us for protection,” Asher laughed.
Alisha smiled, she could hear the love for his family in his voice, and as much as she tried not to like one word of what she was hearing, she found that she was fighting a losing battle. Her dream mate had always been one who would love his family, unconditionally, and it looked like the prince was exactly like that. She let out a sigh, it was a shame that he was Royal, and had completely forgotten about her and Iesha, and left them to rot for years. Shaking her head to get rid of the negative thoughts, she sighed, tilting her head forward as Asher’s hand gently pushed it to take more of her hair in his hand and brush out the knots.
“So, I am just having a total guess here, you are the triplet’s favourite uncle,” Alisha giggled slightly.
“You guessed right. Although Hamish reckons it is because I am like a child myself,” Asher laughed.
“What is Hamish like? We don’t really hear a lot about him in the real world,” Alisha asked, finding herself wanting to know more and more about her mate's family.
“He is great, more like dad, whereas Becca, Phoenix, and I are more like mam. We have her mischievous side. Hamish is the intelligent one, loves solving things, and is a deep thinker,” Asher smiled.
“You sound like you love him very much,” Alisha noticed.
“Yes, I do. Ever since he died, then brought back to life, I realised just how much I loved him, before that he was just my nerdy kid brother,” Asher sighed.
Alisha noticed the sadness in his voice when he spoke about Hamish dying and coming back to life. It was not something she had heard about, not even in passing when doing her many chores around the pack, and she wondered if it was not common knowledge. She wanted to know what that was all about, but something in Asher’s sigh told her to leave it alone for now.
“And Becca, are you her favourite brother as well?” Alisha asked.
“No, truth be told, it is Hamish. However, Becca is not as she once was.”
Alisha heard unmistakable pain in his voice and once again she found herself wondering what had happened to Hamish and Becca.
“Right... now for the fine-tooth comb, I will be as gentle as possible, but I need to dig in there. Tilt your head forward for me please.” Asher asked her, then walked to the side and placed a long piece of white paper under her face, as he set to on running the comb through her hair.
Alisha shuddered as she saw nit after nit drop from her hair, and scurried around on the paper.
“Ergh, disgusting,” She winced when she saw them.
“Disgusting but handy,” Asher chuckled.
“What do you mean?” Alisha asked.
“I am going to keep some of them. I have a plan, one that will upset the life out of that excuse of an annoying evil little bitch that hit Iesha and then attack what is mine,” Asher’s voice turned from perfectly playful to harsh and cold.
Alisha attempted to turn her head to look up at him, but Asher held it in place, as he continued to run the comb through her hair.
“Dare I ask what you have planned?” Alisha asked, trying to lighten the mood once more.
“Well, I am going to send them to Becca. There is more than one way to interrogate prisoners, some more fun than others. I think Honey will not like having nits in her hair one bit,” Asher stated.
“No, definitely not. I wish I could see her face when you do that,” Alisha laughed.
“You can. We will go up for a day when you're eating properly, and you can administer the retribution yourself if you want. We don’t have to stay, and get straight back to Edensor, but yeah, if you want to have your first pranking experience, then you are more than welcome. Actually, I have another cunning plan. I am going to get a couple of dead ones and leave them around Hamish. That should be fun. I bet he squeals like a girl,” Asher began to laugh at the thought.
“Child,” Alisha shook her head, but her usual harshness when calling him out was replaced with a more light-hearted tone that Asher did not fail to miss.
“When do you think the Doctor will let me out of here, so I can get my pack home?” Alisha asked.
Asher stiffened slightly, although he had agreed to the compromise. The thought of having to leave her at any point unprotected, even if the bounty was dealt with, scared him to the core.
“You agreed!” Alisha growled, picking up on his body language.
“I did, and I will not go back on my word. But the thought of you being left alone at any point with people I don’t know when I have to continue my royal tasks terrifies me. I am not going to lie to you, Alisha. I will not fight you about it, but I cannot tell you I am happy about it either,” Asher sighed.
“Tough, I am leading my pack, and you will just have to get over it. Oh and get used to me bossing you around as your alpha when in my pack,” Alisha grinned mischievously at him.
“Oh, I am very prepared for that happening. However, we need to concentrate on getting you fit, healthy, and Mia able to shift at will, before any of that can happen. So I guess you are stuck here, with a permanent royal guard, as in, me, mam, dad, or my siblings for the foreseeable future,” Asher chuckled.
“Okay, all done for today, Cheryl is debugging Iesha daily, so I will do this again tomorrow,” Asher declared as Alisha pulled her head back and rounded her shoulders, then looked down at the disgusting lice on the paper, as Asher gathered them up with a smirk on his face and got out a big sample bottle and placed them inside, writing "Honeys New Friends" on the front with a chuckle.
"Come on, I will rinse out the conditioner.” Asher declared, not really wanting to stop playing with her hair, being able to touch her without complaint or her quipping had been one of the best experiences of his entire life, bar none.
“Actually, I kind of want a shower,” Alisha said.
“I like your thinking mate,” Asher winked.
“Calm down, you’re not coming, can you ask either Cheryl or Eve to help me please?” Alisha asked.
“Spoilsport!” Asher huffed slightly, then linked with Andrew to ask Cheryl to come in.
“Sorry, we have to disappoint her for now, but we will give her a bed bath,” Andrew informed him.
Asher sighed, he could tell how much Alisha wanted to shower, and he hated to disappoint her.
“Sorry Alisha, Andrew said not yet, but they will give you a bed bath to keep you clean,” Asher told her with a sigh.
Alisha nodded her head, squaring her shoulders, her go-to reaction to cover her disappointment so that nobody could hold this over. Life had taught her if someone saw that she was bothered by anything, then they would use it against her, time and time again. The act, though, did not fool her mate, and his heart felt like it was cracking seeing just how brave she had been and just how she had coped with everything she had gone through all this time, by shutting herself down and hiding behind a mask of indifference. Chapter Twenty-Six – The Forgotten Mate and The Alpha Prince.